What does a Liverpool medical involve?

Naby Keita passed his medical at Melwood this morning

Naby Keita passed his medical at Melwood this morning

HEAD PHYSIO Andy Renshaw explained what happens in a Liverpool medical as Naby Keita completed his switch to Anfield this morning.

The midfielder passed a medical at Melwood to confirm his £48m switch from Leipzig.

Renshaw explained that the purpose of a medical is to "provide the club with any information that may have a bearing on the player’s ability to perform over the course of his contract."

He added: "Given the sums of money the club are potentially committing to with each signing, they need to ensure that their investments are without risk."

Renshaw told rousingthekop.com that recruitment analysts begin the medical process.

"Medicals often commence with the guys in the scouting office," he said.

They give us invaluable information about the player’s previous availability, all their published injuries, clips of these injuries and as much information as they are able to source from the media.

"They do a huge amount of the medical work for us, but rarely get appreciation for it, but we are very thankful."

The process then moves onto the medical department.

"The medical itself will then involve a cardiac screen, looking to see if there are any heart abnormalities and how the heart copes with physical stress," Renshaw added.

"A musculoskeletal will be done by one of us and we will check the strength and physical function of the player with various tests in our gym at Melwood.

"We then check the player’s bloods before sending them for a two-hour stint in a scanning machine looking at the major joints in the body important for a footballer. Once we have all this information we present the findings to the manager, owners and Sporting Director. All in all, the medical usually takes upwards of eight hours."

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